Awash In A Sea Of Black
by Snow'sLuckyCat
Summary: I am awash in a sea of black…aka a ShepWhump ep tag to No Man's Land.


Title: Awash In A Sea Of Black  
Author: Snow'sLuckyCat (aka johnsheppardluv)   
Disclaimer: Me no own, so you no sue, Mr. & Mrs. SGA People.   
Category: Angst/Drama/Whump  
Rating: Mild T – for some swear words  
Summary: I am awash in a sea of black…  
Warning: Deals with 3x01 - "No Man's Land" pretty exclusively, as it is a missing scene fic for that episode.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

I am awash in a sea of black…one that spans farther than I'd ever thought possible. No stars. No pinpricks of faraway light. No hive ships. No anything. My surroundings are devoid of all color and shape, and at first I think I'm blind. The last thing I fully remember is the cockpit practically exploding in my face.

The throb behind my eyes lets me know that I must have hit my head somewhere, though I don't know where, and I feel a trickle of something slowly running down my face. Blood, I realize. Taking my right hand, which amazingly has all five fingers still attached, I gently reach up and probe the offending area. Rubbing the liquid off my forehead jars my head some and I groan loudly.

Thankfully though, when I retract my hand, I am able to vaguely see the outline of it. Apparently, it was the knock to my head, NOT the mini explosion that had been keeping from seeing. Leaning my head against the cool cockpit window, I get a modicum of relief. The cold helps me focus some and I become more aware of what's going on around me. Besides my F-302's controls being shot to hell, I notice nothing really wrong…that is, until I hear something. A faint hissing sound.

Fearing a second explosion from the already deep-fried controls, I lean away from them as far as possible, knowing full well that it's not nearly far enough. Something outside catches my eyes, however, and I turn in that direction, expecting the worst. What greets me shocks me numb. The plane's right wing has been completely shot off. My mind puts two and two together quickly, even though I still have a headache. It's not a secondary explosion after all. It's actually far worse than that. It's coolant leaking and air escaping out of here and into the vastness of outer space!

Oh, man…I am _soooooo_ _dead_!

…Goodbye, Rodney. Thought I could rescue you again, just like old times. 

Goodbye, Ronon. Chewie ain't got nothing on you.

Goodbye, Elizabeth. Take care of everyone.

Goodbye, Lorne. You've been awesome to joke around with. And again, way to be alive! Not like me.

Goodbye, Teyla. I really wanted to show you Earth. Even if it was just once and you wanted to spend the whole time in a mall or ten…

Goodbye, Jinto. Not that I've seen you lately, Halling having banned all Athosians from Puddle Jumper travel, unless it's an emergency…

Goodbye, Wraith. At least, I want have to look at none of your god-awful mugs ever again. Hallelujah for small miracles.

Goodbye, City. You're still in good hands. Take care of everybody, even Elizabeth, even if she doesn't think she needs it.

Goodbye ------

Hey! Wait a minute. Why is that ship coming toward me? Don't they know I'm already dead in the water?

Struggling from my resigned stupor, I straighten up as best I can to try and see where the hell I'm going…

XXXXXXX

A solid black maw greets me. But it takes me longer than normal to realize that they're not sucking me up in the engines to get shredded. They have opened up the hangar bay and are probably just waiting for gravity to kick in. They probably think my craft is crippled and they personally want to make sure that I am crippled too…

Sure enough, half a second later, there's a pretty hard bump, which knocks me around some more, a sharp movement that my battered body definitely needs no more of for the next long while. Especially since I already feel like I'm going to throw up…

**_Bang!_**

Something else jars me from my thoughts, and I feel like I've been drifting again. The doc would say that I've just picked up my umpteenth concussion. And he would probably be right.

I look up in the direction of the violent noise and realize that it's two Wraith males alternatively trying to break into the cockpit, which is probably jammed shut. Apparently, they saw me turn my head, and so the bangs get quicker and even more violent. And the renewed shaking is making my stomach flair up again. Only this time, I can't force the bile back down.

I bend over and away from my clothes just in time, and my last meal comes back up in all its glory, plastering the floor under the stick and destroyed control panel, carrying with it what I can only assume is my stomach. 

Ewwwww….

XXXXXXX

**_Snap! Pop! Whoosh…_**

Damn. They succeeded faster than I thought. No time to even pull my 9 mil, which is still in its thigh holster. For now, anyway. Double damn.

Two pairs of gnarly green hands reach for me, and I try to resist, even without the use of my gun. But, I still haven't fully recovered from puking up my guts, and so the one punch I'm able to land only glances ineffectually off one of the Wraith's facemasks…

Damn. I need to remember that those things really hurt when I hit them. Willing the pain flaring up in the knuckles of my right hand, I almost miss what one of my "new friends" says to me in the next moment.

"Human, you will see our Queen. She will no doubt have much pleasure in interrogating you. Much pleasure in your pain too."

A second later, I feel my harness being ripped away from my body and I'm lifted up through the broken cockpit glass. Belatedly, I feel one of the shards cut into my side, but there is little I can do about it, as both Wraiths hold my arms and hands within their own, immobilizing me.

Finally, on solid, non-moving, non-spinning ground once more, my knees involuntarily buckle. And I would've fallen had my "caretakers" not caught me around the shoulders. 

"Human! Stand up." A third, even whiter Wraith comes around from the other side of my downed craft. He must be the boss of the other two, cuz he's dressed differently, more stylishly, than they are.

"Can't. Dizzy," I manage to whisper, just before I wrest from their grip, only to completely sink to my knees, and throw up for the second time in the past five minutes.

A second after I'm finished, I feel hands underneath my underarms, hoisting me back up.

My feet still won't support my own weight though, but that doesn't stop my captors from dragging me along. Soon, we are out of the bay and moving through a maze of corridors.

Though I still feel a bit woozy, I am able to finally sustain some of my own weight. Good thing too, because my toes were starting to really kill by being banged against every imperfection on the floor of this "natural" ship.

I look up and around, but the halls all pass in a blur. A relatively empty blur, I belatedly realize. Where is everyone else?

Slightly disconcerted, I let my chin fall back on my chest again. Looking at the walls just makes my stomach want to rebel again anyway. And it was bad enough that I lost it in front of the two underlings. I will NOT show weakness again.

As soon as they make a wrong move, I am so gone. I just want to find Ronon and Rodney and get the hell out of here. Is that so much to ask? And if I ever see that double-crossing rat bastard, Michael, again, I'll ------

A sharp tug. And…we've stopped. I try to stand up fully, but I still can't really see who or what stopped us, and so I just sag a little, taking stock of my situation and inventory of any injuries, while also trying to regain some of my lost strength. The nausea's gone down some, but I still feel uncoordinated. And my head swims a little with sharp movement. I don't feel that great, but I feel way better than I did, because I no longer feel as if I'm gonna pass out any minute now…

Cautiously, I peer up. We still aren't moving again. What the hell is the holdup? Not that I mind.

That's when I finally see who it is, just over the shifting shoulder of what apparently is now a newly anxious Wraith. The familiar tuft of short white hair…the green-white skin…it's gotta be Michael. I _knew _it! He probably just wants the glory all for himself, for turning me in to his Queen. I try to voice this out loud, but a short rap to the back of my head by one of the guards shuts me up real quick.

"…asked me to question the prisoner…"

Yeah. Great. I'm this close to falling over already and now you want to interrogate me. My day's just getting better and better. 

"…release him."

I hear the magic words and I can't stop myself from stumbling forward. The only thing that stops me from falling flat on my face is Michael's firm grip on my jacket sleeve.

"…will take him from here."

Take me where? How much further do we have to go?

I don't get to fathom this question for long though. Besides, I have more pressing issues to deal with, like the fact that I don't have a gun any longer. They must've lifted it from me back when I was throwing up a lung in their hangar...

Finally, Michael and I start moving off. I scrub my face with my free hand, trying hard to focus. I blink and the black spots in my vision fade away.

I don't dare look Michael in the face yet. But, out of the corner of my eye, I see him slyly looking over his shoulder. I glance with him, seeing the other Wraith round the corner and out of sight.

Amazingly, the stun gun he'd had trained on me lowers. Apparently, that little stunt was just for show.

I voice this relief quietly. "You had me worried there."

He doesn't say anything for a moment, then chooses the easy way out, and changes the subject. "You slowed them down – at least for a little while. We need to get to a transport ship and hope your friends find us."

That's definitely a good plan, but "…Not until we free Ronon and McKay." 

At Michael's hesitation, I think he's going to disagree and force me back to the bay and then fly him out of here, leaving Rodney and Ronon to be blown up. Of course, that's _soooooo not_ gonna happen.

Luckily, that problem never arises and the guy surprises me again, verbally and physically.

"We're headed toward them now."

From underneath his coat he pulls out a 9 mil, possibly my own, and hands it to me.

I'm elated to say the least. Now, we're both armed. Michael's brand of help has upgraded about 95 in just the past ten minutes.

"Now…_That's_ what I call help."

Pushing my aches and pains away from my brain, I cock the gun and follow Michael, hopefully towards my friends and eventually to freedom.

XXXXXXX

"You look a little green, Colonel."

"Thanks, Rodney."

"I'm just saying…"

"Well, _stop_ saying!"

I had been feeling better, especially after finding Rodney and Ronon both alive, if a bit dirty, from their stays in the cocoon compartments. But, now that we're back in space, with me flying cuz I'm the only one who really can, I'm feeling the effects of the earlier explosion and my subsequent crash all over again. At least Caldwell's waiting for us this time and he knows we're coming… 

_**BOOM!  
**_  
Shit. Shit. **_Shit!_** I'm already being shot at! Again! This just isn't my day, is it?

I'm starting to lose control of the transport already…

Rodney's high-pitched voice. "We're all gonna die!"

I half-turn around in my seat.

"No, we're n…"

A beam of light engulfs us then, effectively cutting me off.

…And the next thing I know we're all on the bridge of the Daedalus in front of the Colonel. Way to be there indeed, sir.

XXXXXXX

After I'd told Caldwell to start sending over everyone to this other hive ship, I knew I could breathe a real sigh of relief.

We are in the clear at last.

The headache I'd been suffering with from earlier is also finally gone, but I'm left feeling utterly exhausted. Too tired to fight it any longer, I soon find myself sitting on the dais steps near the dead Queen. At least, I hope she's dead…

"Colonel? Colonel? You okay?"

"Yeah, Lorne. Just gotta sit down for a minute." I did tell him the truth, most if it anyway.

"Okay. Well, I'll just go and meet up with Caldwell then…"

Lorne sounds a bit suspicious to me though. He'd better not go and tattle on me to Caldwell. 'Cuz, like, I'm totally **_fine_**.

"Yeah. Okay. Just be careful, Lorne. Better yet, take Ronon with you." 

"But, sir…"

"He could use the exercise. Humor me, would ya?"

"Yes, sir."

Ronon gives me a rather long look of concern, but I wave him off and the two disappear back down the corridor.

Rodney looks at me, sitting not more than two arms' lengths away from the fallen Wraith, then fully at the Wraith, then fully back at me.

"Care to sit?" I ask nonchalantly, patting a spot beside me.

"Not particularly. No."

I grin slightly. "Suit yourself."

"You know, I think that your plan…"

My eyes slip shut and I slowly fade out then, half-listening to Rodney's voice garble on about more garble. A different kind of black sea greets me. But, this time I welcome it and let it wash me away, even if it's only for the few minutes it'll take for Caldwell to beam everyone to the relative safety found within this former enemy vessel.

XXXXXXX 

THE END

XXXXXXX


End file.
